Automatic wagon-brake.



No. 650,278; 7 Patented May 22, I900.

E. SKAAR.

AUTOMATIC WAGON BRAKE.

(Application filed June 29, 1899.)

(No Model.) 4 $heats-Sheet 1.

5 s j "1* E xi] 1 k 1 I x.

%M Ed J'Kwan Patented May 22, I900. 5-. SKAAR. AUTOMATIC WAGON BRAKE.

(Application ,flled June 29, 1899.)

' 4 ShEets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

! E -Il m: "cams min: 00.. PNOTQLIIHO. wgsnma'rou. n, c

Patented may 22, 1900.

' E; SKAAR.

AUTOMATIC WAGON BRAKE.

(Application filed J '\n 1e.29, 1899.)

ASheets-Sheet 3, A

(No Model.)

No. 650,278. Patented May 22, I900.

E. SKAAB. v

' AUTDMATICWAGON BRAKE.

A nmibn filed June 29, 1899.) '(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4,

11/ diva r 75 2129972337726 UNITED ST TES;

PATENT ,OFFICE.

ED SKAAR, OF KENYON, MINNESOTA.

AUTOMATIC WAGON-BRAKE sPEcrFfcATIoN forming part of Letters Patent No.650,278, dated May 22, 1960.

: Application filed June 29, 1899: Serial No. 722,224. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ED SKAAR, a citizen of the United States, residingat Kenyon, in the county of Goodhue and State of Minnesota, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Wagon- Brakes;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the inven; tion, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention relates to brakes for wagons and other wheeledvehicles, and has for its object to improve the construction of the samewith a view of making the same more universally automatic to perform thevarious functions required of brakes of the character illustrated andclaimed in my'prior patent, No. 589,512, of date September 7 1897,,

entitled Automatic wagon-brake. In my said prior invention the brakeswere automatically set in going downhill by the pullback action on thedraft-rigging; but it was in the nature of that device that the brakeswould also be set when backing the wagon,

and hence it was necessary to throw the autoinatic brake out of actionbefore the wagon could be backed.

The salient feature of my present invention consists in the provision ofa device whereby all of the required'actions of the brake device areperformed automatically.

The preferred form of my invention whereby I accomplish the above objectis illus: trated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like charactersindicate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a wagon runninggear equipped with my improvedautomatic brake, some parts of the wagon being broken away. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal vertical section taken approximately on the line :0 m ofFig. 1. Fig. 3 is a broken View, on an enlarged scale, takenapproximately on the line 00 m of Fig. 1 and illustrating the positionof the parts when the wagon is being backed by the draft-animals. Fig. 4is a view corresponding to Fig. 3, but illustrating the position of theparts when the brake is set. Fig. 5 is a vertical section takenapproximately on the line a cc of Fig. 1 and illustrating the rela:

tion of the parts shown when the wagon is being drawn in the ordinarymanner. Figs. 3 and 4 are views corresponding to Fig. 5, butillustrating the positions of the parts when the brake-rigging is inthepositions shown,

respectively, in Figs. 3 and 4. Fig. 6 is a vertical section takenapproximately on the line as 00' of Fig. 1, some parts being brokenaway. Fig. 7 is a transverse vertical section taken on the line x m ofFig. 6. Fig. 8 is a detail in vertical section taken centrally throughthe outer end of the pole and immediate connections, and Fig. 9 is atransverse section taken on the line a :0 of Fig. 8.

Referring to the parts of the wagon, a a a to which the whiffletrees(not shown) are attached. This eqalizer a is for the purpose of applyingmy invention secured to the pole a and to the pole-strap a by means of apolepin a, which works through a perforation in said equalizer andthrough longitudinal slots a and a, respectively, in said pole a andsaid strap o These slots at and a permit the equalizer a limited'to-and-fro movement on the tongue, and the lower end of the pin c0depends below the pole. The purpose of this construction will appearlater on.

' indicates a brake-beam which extends transversely across the wagonjust in front of the rear wheels and is supported on theforwardly-projecting ends of the yoke of, the said yoke being preferablyprovided with a plate a, on which said brake-beam slides.Keeper-brackets c, secured on the plate a, extend over the brake-beamand assist in holding the same in working position, while permitting itto slide to and from the rear wheels. At its ends and cooperating onewith indicate, respectively, the wheels, the axle,

each rear wheel the brake-beam b is provided with a pair of brake-shoes19. Preferably these brake-shoes b are provided with scraper-- springs bsecured to the faces thereof and provided also with wearing-strips 12which are secured to and form linings to the concavities of thescraper-springs 12 It will be noted that the upper ends of the scraper-fsprings b project above the parts I) and b and are turned rearward, sothat they will engage the running-faces of the wheels 0. before thewearing-strips b are thrown into contact therewith and arethus caused toact as. scrapers and serve to clean the running-faces of the wheelsbefore the brakes are applied.

To operate the brake-beam, a pair of parallel levers f are pivoted atf',this 'pivot,as shown, being afforded by the projecting ends of atransverse bar f secured to the top of theyoke-pla'te Q15. Short links fpivot-ally:

connect the upper and shorter ends of the levers f with small brackets fsecuredto the b, one on each.

front face of the brake-beam side of its center.-

Along push rod or bar-g is mounted for endwisesliding movements on theunder side of the pole a -As preferably constructed this push rod or bar9 is formed in sections adjnstably connected, as best shown in Fig. 3,by slots g in the overlapped portions of saidsections andnutted bolts 9which work through the said slots. ably constructed this push rodor barg is provided with side flanges which work in suitable keepers 9 thatare screwed or other- Wise secured to the bottom of the pole, as' bestshownin Fig. 9, but also in Figs. 3 and 4.-. The extreme for-ward end ofsaid rod g the wagon or .in resisting its forward move i ment in goingdownhill.

Just below the slot a in the pole at the push-rod .g is provided with areinforced perforation or seat g through which the depending endof thepole-pin a is passed. In this manner the push-rod g and the equalizer 04i are connected for slidingmovements together I longitudinallyof thepole.

Toa bracket h, rigidly secured to the front axle a, is a levergf,pivoted at its intermediate portion. The upper end :of this lever g .isconnected to the rearend of the push- .rod g lbya link g7, which ispreferably formed 1 in sections, adj ustably secured by means of slots gin .the overlapped portions of said sections, :and short nutted bolts 9passed through the said slots. The lower-end ofthe said lever 9 isconnected to the lowerend's' of the .pair of lovers .f by'a connectioncon-j sistingof a bracket g pivoted to the said levers f, and a rod g,pivoted to the said le- Further, as preferfront axle-a.

19 0f the stop or look rod 19.

ver 9 and adjustably secured to the said bracket 10 by means of aset-screw 9 or otherwise.

With the construction above described it is evident that whenever abacking strain is produced on the push-rod g, such as would be the .caseeither in attempting to back the wagon by the team hitched thereto or bythe hold-back action in resisting the forward movement of the wagon inrunning downhill, the said rod will be pushed rearward, and through theintermediate lever connections the brake-shoes will be forced againstthe rear Wheels a In. resisting the movement of the wagon in runningdown a steep grade the above action is of course just what is desired;but it is not desirable that the brakes be set when attempting to backthe wagon. To prevent the brakes from being thus-set in backing thewagon, I employ the device already referred to and which in itspreferred form is illustrated in thedrawings. This device reallycomprises a lock or stop which normally prevents the setting of thebrakes and a trip which is caused to trip the said lock and thus permitthe brakes to be set at such times as the back thrust is thrown onto thepush-rod while the wagon is being moved forward or as would be thecasein running down a steep grade. lhe 'so-called lockior stop in thispreferredconstruction comprises arodor rocker p, which is s uit ablymounted in projections 19" from the bracket h, and a bearing 19 on oneend of the Directly over and in line with the upper end of the lever gthe rod pis provided with a stop armor projection 19 the free end ofwhich is adapted to engage with the upper end of, said lever g and witha shoulder or lug p on the upper end of v aid lever. At its outer endthe rod 19 is provided with a crank-arm or oflset portion p On the innerend of the hub of the adjacent front wheel a I secure one or more (assho'wn and preferred a pair) trip devices, which in this preferredconstruction-are formed by cam-sections t of a band t, which is securelyheld to the said wheel-hub by a set-screw t or otherwise. The"cam-sectionst are located diametrically opposite to each other, andtheyare offset inward from the body of the band or ring 13 and are bothpositioned to run in engagement with the projectingcra-n-karm The moreexact. relation of the trip-.camst to th trip or crank arm 9 of thelockor stop device will be brought out in the description-of the opera tion,which will now be given. 7

7 Under the ordinary draft strains the equalizer a and hencethe push-rodg, which is connected for movement therewith, will be drawnforward ,andthrough the intermediate connection the brake-shoes will be positivelyforced into their extreme released positions shown in Fig. 2, byreference to which it will be seen that the stop-arm p has fallen on thelever g a considerable distance below the stop shoulder or lug 19thereof. When in running down a steep grade the draft-animals pull backon the neck-yoke to resist the forward movement of the wagon, thepushrod g will be forced rearward until the shoulder p of the lever g isbrought against the free end of the stop-arm p on the stop-rod p, andthis movement of said shaft 19 will move the trip or crank projection pthereof out of its normal position and into the path of the trip-camsp.Now as the wagon-Wheel which carries the said trip-cam is as long as thewagon is advanced moved forward or in the direction indicated by thearrow marked on Fig. 4 it is evident that the first trip-cam t whichengages the said crank or trip arm 9 will force the same outward, asshown in said figure, and this movement of the said 7 arm p and itsshaft 19 will force the stop-arm 13 above the shoulder 19 of the lever 9thus freeing the said lever and permitting the backward strain on thepush-rod to become effective through the intermediate connections to setthe brakes,as shown in Fig. 4. When the wagon is backed up by thedraft-animals, the push-rod 9 will be forced rearward until the shoulder19 of the lever g is brought into engagement with the free end of thestop-arm g as shown in Fig. 3, by reference to which it will be seenthat the movement thus given to the brake-shoes through the intermediateconnections thereto is not sufficient to set the brakes or throw theshoes into engagement with the rear Wheels. Under this backing actionthe stop-lever will not be forced out of engagement with thestop-shoulder p" of the lever g for the reason that the trip-cams willin this case be moved backward or in the direction indicated by thearrows marked on Fig. 3, so that their engagements with the crank ortrip arm 19 will only tend to force the stop-arm p downward and intotighter engagement with the lever g. Hence it is obvious the brakes willnot be set by the ordinary backing action. It is of course evident thatwhenever the draft strains are applied to the equalizer it, togetherwith the push-rod g, will be drawn forward, and the brakes and the otherparts will be restored to their normal positions. (Indicated in Fig. 2.)

From the foregoing description both the generic and specific features ofmy invention are thought to have been made clear, and it of coursefollows from what has been said that I do not limit myself to thespecific construction illustrated, but, on the contrary, that myinvention is capable of considerable modification. The means forrendering the ditions above noted I consider broadly now.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is as follows:

1. The combination with a wheeled vehicle and draft-rigging thereforinvolving an equalizer and a neck-yoke, both mounted to slide on thewagon-pole, of a brake with brakesetting connections involving a pushrod or bar mounted on the wagon-pole and connected for sliding movementswith said equalizer and neck-yoke, the intermediate lever g pivoted to asuitable support on the front axle, the rod s suitably mounted on thefront axle and provided with the stop-arm p and triparm p and one ormore trip cams or fiangest carried by one of the Wagon-wheels andoperating on said trip-arm p substantially as and for the purposes setforth.

2. The combination with a wheeled vehicle and draft-rigging therefor, ofa brake, and brake-operating connections between said brake and saiddraft-rigging involvinga pushrod mounted on the pole, connected formovements with said draft-rigging and formed inlongitudinally-adjustable sections, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ED SKAAR.

Witnesses:

O. A. STnoMMu, A. G. HooDn.

brake completely automatic under all the con-

